Are you considering purchasing a business? Buying a franchise? Need Money? What about your retirement account? There may be a pot of it in your retirement account whether it be a 401 (k) or IRA. Can that be used? I am hearing lots of ads on the radio that promise a way to use your […]

With Medicaid Estate Recovery, Expanded Medicaid Could Cost Some People their Inheritance As many of you know, the State of New Hampshire is allowed by federal law to file liens against property and to recover from the estates of Medicaid recipients who have died. See (Medicaid Estate Recovery) at www.dhhs.nh.gov/oos/eru/index.htm for an explanation of how this […]

Inherited IRAs cannot be used for bankruptcy protection The US Supreme Court recently ruled that inherited IRAs are not “retirement accounts” for purposes of bankruptcy protection. Normally, a tax qualified retirement account is not available to creditors in a bankruptcy action. The Court ruled, however, that an inherited IRA, that is, an IRA inherited from […]

New Category for Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare The New Hampshire Legislature is considering a change in the statute authorizing a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare. The proposed change would create a new category of decision-maker: Surrogate (under the current statute, one who is authorized to make such decisions under a written Power of Attorney […]

Protection for Nursing Homes? NH State Bill SB138_FN Last year, the New Hampshire legislature passed a bill known as SB 138_FN. This bill was effective July 2, 2013. This bill gives protection for nursing homes by allowing them and certain assisted living facilities to bring a cause of action to recover the “costs of care” […]

SB 203- The Limited Liability Company Act On June 18, 2012 Gov. Lynch signed into law SB 203, the Limited Liability Company Act. The legislation completely rewrites RSA 304-C, the New Hampshire law on Limited Liability Companies. This Act was drafted by a committee of attorneys at the behest of the Business and Industry Association. I was privileged to be one of […]

Resident Transfer-Discharge Rights Constraints Recently, I have seen several cases of involuntary discharge of nursing home residents (and residents of Assisted Living Facilities.) NH Nursing homes have rules/laws to follow when it comes to resident transfer-discharge rights. Here are some constraints in this area: Statutory.RSA 151:26 Regulatory. § He-E 802.15. Transfer or Discharge of Residents Contractual. The admission agreement and Marketing […]

Culture Change There is a movement today in nursing homes called “Culture Change”. This concept means different things to different people and the movement is not new- although the name is relatively new. Culture change in nursing homes goes back at least to the early 1970’s. In New Hampshire, a long term care visionary by the name of Bill Thoms (Greenbriar) pioneered such things […]

Choosing A Nursing Home for your Loved One Choosing a nursing home for a loved one is about as much fun as a root canal. The process usually starts late in the day, maybe on a Friday, when you get a call from the hospital telling you that your parent/grandparent is going to be discharged over the weekend. “Which […]